HUMAN

Last week, we released to the public Holly Logan's choreographer's intent for the piece, ODD Behaviors. This week, we are pleased to be doing the same for Holly Logan's HUMAN, which premiered earlier this year in March at Velocity Dance Center. As Holly expressed in her post last week outlining what moved her to provide these choreographer intents to the public--we by no means believe that everyone needs to or should feel obligated to read them. We simply want to provide a safe landing spot for those who feel tentative about how to digest the sometimes intimidating experience that is modern dance.

That being said--we hope you enjoy!

Samantha Weissbach

Executive Director, Intrepidus Dance

HUMAN

Choreographer's Intent

Human is a piece that was inspired by the pioneers of modern dance. Modern dance began as rebellion of sorts to the romanticism of ballet. During this era, ballet dancers would portray fairies, princesses, and swans, but there were dance artists who desired to dance as humans. These pioneers fought to create works that challenged our views and outlook on the human condition. The pieces they produced caused riots in the streets because viewers were not used to seeing such raw emotion. That passion and desire to bring forth true emotion is what inspired this piece.

HUMAN opens with breath, the idea of exploration, and beginnings, with each dancer as an individual. It guides the viewer to our duet between Madeline and Jessica. This duet is the introduction to relationships, introducing the idea of care and protection. The next section, where dancers walk through and past each other, represents how we move through life often forgetting to reach out and make those true connections. In this section, Ciara and CarliAnn perform the same duet from the beginning ­this time separated, representing that disconnect. The next section of the piece (what we lovingly call "The Hand Section") is actually where I started choreographing the piece. In my head, I saw people reaching out to each other, the touch, and how sensitive touch is. This is the section that examines that first relationship where we understand what love is. Whether that is with our parents or siblings, a friend or a partner, we all have that moment where it all makes sense. I must say this is my favorite section.

From here we move to our very short lived "Joy Section", where the dancers run and dance freely, celebrating that love and that connection. After this, I wanted to move into something that showed that while we may love someone, it does not guarantee smooth sailing, or that we should keep that person in our life. This is why there are two sections about those rough areas and the choices between when to let go and when it makes sense to hold on. I wanted to use friction and embraces to illustrate these ideas. The second to last section uses the same separated duet from the beginning to bring forth the idea that the relationships in our life take work. It is hard, sometimes ugly, and exhausting to genuinely love someone.

I wanted to end with a duet to bring us back to the simplicity of where we started. I wanted to create something that displayed how much we need each other, that in our barest human condition, we are at our best when we can share in our happiness, joy, anger, and sadness with at least one other person in our lives. For me it is about the vulnerability it takes to be human in our emotions and everyday encounters.